Popper's account of the logical asymmetry between ..

Popper coined the term to describe his philosophy. The term indicates his rejection of classical , and of that had grown out of it. Popper argued strongly against the latter, holding that are abstract in nature, and can be tested only indirectly, by reference to their implications. He also held that scientific theory, and human knowledge generally, is irreducibly conjectural or hypothetical, and is generated by the creative imagination in order to solve problems that have arisen in specific historico-cultural settings. Logically, no number of positive outcomes at the level of experimental testing can confirm a scientific theory, but a single counterexample is logically decisive: it shows the theory, from which the implication is derived, to be false. The term "falsifiable" does not mean something is false; rather, that if it is false, then this can be shown by observation or experiment. Popper's account of the logical asymmetry between and lies at the heart of his philosophy of science. It also inspired him to take falsifiability as his criterion of between what is and is not genuinely scientific: a theory should be considered scientific if and only if it is falsifiable. This led him to attack the claims of both and contemporary to scientific status, on the basis that the theories enshrined by them are not falsifiable. Popper also wrote extensively against the famous of . He strongly disagreed with 's and supported 's approach to about the universe. Popper's falsifiability resembles 's . In Of Clocks and Clouds (1966), Popper remarked that he wished he had known of Peirce's work earlier.

Popper locates the essential asymmetry of our experience in ..

Magazine Archive | The New Yorker

Popper described his philosophy as , indicating his rejection of classical empiricism, and the account of science that had grown from it. In his most influential book, the , he argued that are universal, but can be tested only by the predictions that arise from them. He argued that scientific theory (and human knowledge generally) is conjectural, generated by human imagination to solve problems that arise in particular historico-cultural settings. No number of positive outcomes of experimental tests can that a scientific theory is true, but just one counterexample is enough to prove it false. This logical asymmetry between and falsification led him to make his criterion of between what is and is not scientific: a theory is scientific if, and only if, it is falsifiable.

cultural cognition project - Cultural Cognition Blog

In a critical sense, Poppers theory ofdemarcation is based upon his perception of the logical asymmetry whichholds between verification and falsification: it is logicallyimpossible to conclusively verify a universal proposition by referenceto experience (as Hume saw clearly), but a single counter-instanceconclusively falsifies the corresponding universal law.

Everybody’S an Expert | The New Yorker

On the matter of counterattacking the criticisms, I would specifically avoid mentioning what their arguments are, e.g., standard error X, and focus exclusively on attacking their conclusion. The reason is that only a justificationist would care what their argument is. But it is not only that arguments cannot justify their conclusions. It is also the case that, even if an argument is wrong, or based on false premises, the conclusion can still be true. In my view, that’s the real logical asymmetry behind falsificationism, not the one emphasized by Popper: true premises yield only true conclusions, whereas false premises can yield both true and false premises. You can be right for the wrong reasons, but you cannot be wrong for the right reasons.